The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program (OINP) will resume issuance of Notifications of Interest (NOI) to qualifying applicants under the Human Capital Priorities (HCP) Stream during the week of April 10-14, 2017.

Analysis

The HCP Stream is one of two streams under the OINP which awards qualifying Express Entry candidates additional points towards their total Express Entry points score. It is open to skilled workers who intend to live and work permanently in Ontario.

In order to be eligible for this stream, an applicant must:

– Have a valid profile in the Express Entry pool;
– Qualify for one of the federal economic immigration programs under the Express Entry System;
– Indicate an interest in immigrating to Ontario when creating his or her profile; and
– Obtain a minimum of 400 points in the Express Entry system.

Candidates who are selected for the HCP stream will receive a Notification of Interest (NOI) from the OINP through their Express Entry account. Not all candidates who meet HCP stream eligibility criteria will receive an NOI.

An NOI authorizes a candidate to submit an HCP application through the OINP’s online portal. If this application is approved, the candidate will then receive a Nomination letter from the Province of Ontario through their Express Entry account confirming their provincial nomination. This letter must be “accepted” within 30 days. Once the letter has been “accepted”, the candidate’s overall points score will increase by 600 points to reflect their provincial nomination.

During the week of April 10-14, 2017, the OINP will also be issuing NOIs to candidates who meet the above-referenced eligibility criteria and who are in high-demand skilled trades within the construction sector. These targeted occupations include:

The OINP will be issuing NOIs to qualifying candidates throughout the year until Ontario’s 2017 federal nomination allocation has been reached. To potentially secure an NOI under the OINP’s HCP stream, interested candidates should submit Express Entry profiles and indicate their interest in immigrating to the Province of Ontario.

Candidates should keep in mind that an NOI is valid for 6 months. Candidates must register a profile for the HCP stream within that timeframe, and submit a complete OINP application within 14 days of registering their HCP profile.